Readers learn how to stretch their food cash

With the economy in bad shape, there are ways to make your food dollar go farther.

Jenny Mastroianni

Soaring fuel prices and a shaky economy led to lot of belt tightening in 2008.

For many folks, the pinch was especially felt in food budgets.

That being so, a continuing theme over the last year was how to stretch dollars, and readers enthusiastically responded with tips, ideas and recipes, as well as news of grocery bargains and dining deals. Many of these people were foodies who filled in as guest writers while Saimi Bergmann was on leave teaching in Korea.

Each week in Saimi’s absence, readers-turned-writers took Saimi’s place in our food pages, sharing their thoughts, expertise, and passion for cooking.

The special guest writers and their topics ranged the gamut, and every Wednesday, we looked forward to hearing a new person's perspective on food — from a retired Timken electrician learning to cook, to a museum director’s skill in thrifty grocery shopping, to a Canton wife who comforted her dying husband by feeding him favorite homecooked dishes.

Their stories informed and inspired, sometimes made us laugh and sometimes made us cry, and their recipes most definitely made us hungry.

We cannot thank these folks enough for putting themselves out there, and for sharing their time and talent with Repository readers.

Saimi is home now, but we had such a positive response to our guest foodie articles, we may continue them in some way in the upcoming year.

Here are some highlights of 2008:

Back to basics With consumers on the lookout for bargains, area farmers markets thrived. The city of Alliance started one this summer, and when the downtown market opened for the first time on a sunny Saturday in July, so many eager supporters turned out that vendors sold out in no time.

Stark County now has several markets, and people across the county are discovering the pleasure of shopping for farm fresh foods while being part of the growing movement to buy locally. (Early this summer we will remind you of where to find farmers markets).

Preserving tradition In my effort to be budget conscious, as well as preserve the bounty of my garden, I set out to learn how to can. My first solo attempt was my great Aunt Rita's chili sauce, a recipe written in my late mother's handwriting. With each ping of a pint lid, I beamed, and became an extension of all the Gareau women who canned before me.

Fair fever In another attempt to put up, store up, preserve and conserve, I bought a pig at the junior livestock auction at the Stark County Fair. It was an exciting and rewarding experience, resulting in a freezer full of quality pork.

ASIAN PORK TENDERLOIN

1⁄3 cup light soy sauce

1⁄4 cup sesame oil

1⁄3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon dry mustard

11⁄2 teaspoons pepper

11⁄2 to 2 pounds pork tenderloin

Whisk together first 8 ingredients. Place pork in a shallow dish; add marinade, turning pork to coat. Cover and chill 8 hours. Remove pork from marinade, discarding marinade. Place in a foil-lined roasting pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees. Let pork stand 5 minutes before carving. Yield: Six servings.

Bad news for fast foodies While researching their best-selling series of “Eat This, Not That” books, David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding uncovered some high-calorie, high-fat jawdroppers.

Did you know that a Pizza Hut Meat Lover Personal Pan Pizza only six inches, has 890 calories, and 49 grams of fat? Or that Quizno’s Roasted Chicken with Honey Mustard Flatbread Salad — a salad! — has 1,110 calories and 74 grams of fat?

How about this? A Dairy Queen Chicken Strip Basket — just four chicken strips — has 1,340 calories, 96 grams of fat and 4,820 mg. of sodium!

And don’t be fooled by healthful ingredients. Case in point: Starbucks cranberry flax mufffin has the sugar equivalent (32 grams) of three scoops of Breyer’s butter pecan ice cream.

For a more healthful cranberry flax muffin, try this diabetic version that has half the sugar content.

Combine egg, egg whites, buttermilk, honey, and oil and slowly whisk into flour mixture. Add in cranberries. Grease a muffin tin or use liners and spoon mixture into cups, about 2⁄3 full. Scatter whole flaxseeds over the tops. Move muffin tin to an oven heated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling racks for 5 minutes.

Still standing The most interesting field trip I took this year was a tour of Kiko Meats in Minerva. Before entering the building, I was afraid I might get woozy at the sights inside. I surprised myself. The Kikos couldn’t have been more welcoming and offered information about their time-honored craft of butchering. The process is fascinating, and it gave me an appreciation for what these men and women do to provide the public with fresh meat.

Had anyone overheard that snippet of my conversation with Lane Witte a few months back, they no doubt would have raised an eyebrow.

Lane and I were talking wings, chicken wings. Lane had informed me he was opening a Wing Warehouse in the former Brenda’s Place in Alliance. The eatery is a Northeast Ohio chain with locations in Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow and more on the way.

Being a wing lover, I lamented to Lane about all the bad wings I have eaten in years past. Ones with rubbery skin. One with broken bones and seeping marrow. Even wings with visible pores and whiskers. Ones bad enough to make me quit eating wings.

Lane assured me his were great. And boy are they. They are crispy and meaty, — but not too big, with great flavor, especially my favorite, Sweet Louie, which is a sauce combination of barbecue, garlic, hot and cajun.

I’m not the only one who loves them. This year Fox 8 News rated Wing Warehouse the area’s best wings.

If you have a taste of something in addition to wings, you won’t have any trouble finding an item on the expansive menu. I’m crazy for the Chicken Florentine sandwich and homemade potato chips. Wing Warehouse in Alliance is at 45 W. State St.; the phone number is (330) 823-0127 For information visitwww.wingwarehouse.com

Best munchie recipe Being a big die-hard wing fan, I was thrilled to discover a Buffalo wing dip recipe in The Repository’s October issue of About magazine.

I’ve seen several wing dip recipes over the years, but Mary Gaston’s recipe is the best one I’ve ever come across. For me, it’s the perfect ratio of ingredients. Mary often makes the dip for pregame festivities when tailgating for her beloved Massillon Tigers.

Heat thoroughly. Add cream cheese, dressing and a cup of cheddar. Heat until melted. Pour into warm crock pot and sprinkle with remaining cheese on top.

Serve with celery sticks or tortilla chips.

— Mary Gaston, Massillon

Bountiful boutique There are several places to purchase cool kitchen gadgetry and pretty dishware in Stark County, but the place I frequent time and again for upscale items at reasonable prices is the housewares nook at Fishers Foods in Plain Township. It is just behind the Loretta Paganini Cooking School, and is chock full of terrific seasonal items, linens, utensils, cookbooks and more. It's a great place to find a gift for a hostess, a friend or yourself.

Open mouth, insert foot My biggest food-related blunder of the year did not have to do with a fallen soufle, a melted baked Alaska or charred veal chops.

It had to do with toppled pop. As I wiped up my mega spill — think Exxon Valdez — in front of the self-serve drink station at a restaurant, I looked up from my crouched position on the floor to see a twenty-something woman approaching.

“Oh honey, be careful,” I told the young woman. "You don’t want to slip.”

She just smiled and waited.

“You look so cute,” I said, wiping away. “Are you going to have a Christmas baby?” Her eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry,," I said. "You’re probably due long after that.”

No response. Uh-oh. Her expression made me realize the error in my judgment. And there was no crawling out of my hole.

“I’m not pregnant,” she said, adding: “It’s from beer.”

People, learn from me. Here's a tip from my sister, who chastised me later when I told her the story: "Never, ever, ever assume a woman is pregnant unless you witness her doctor tell her she is."

Other memorable moments and foods in 2008:

n Being invited to the table of Dr. Shruti Trehan and her daughter, Simran, and enjoying their overflowing hospitality and delicious Indian dishes.

n Making grape pie for the first time.

n Interviewing Iron Chef Cat Cora.

n Lamb like no other from Chef Scott Welch of Blue Olive in downtown Canton.

n Delighting in fried oysters and blue cheese butter, both at Iris in downtown Canton.

n A sandwich worth the trip: Artichoke and mushrooms with truffle mayo on artisan bread at The South Market Bistro in Wooster.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Silce onions. In a skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook onions until soft, then arrange them in an oven-proof dish. Cut off ends of zucchini, then slice them lengthwise. Place a half slice of pancetta on top of each zucchini half. Layer zucchini over onions, slightly overlapping. In a food processor, mix bread, a few leaves of rosemary and the cheese.

Sprinkle zucchini with bread mixture, drizzle all over with olive oil.

Bake for 25 minutes, then serve warm. Serves 4-6.

Note: I have made this another way as well, by omitting the onions, pancetta and rosemary, and using dry bread to make the crumbs. It’s great both ways. You could also drizzle tomato sauce on top for another variation.

— La Cucina Italia, October 2008 issue.

BACON CRACKER WRAPS

Club crackers

Thin-sliced bacon

Cut bacon strips in half; wrap halved strip around one Club cracker. Place wrapped crackers on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cook in preheated 200-degree oven for two hours or a little longer if necessary, until desired doneness. Drain on paper towel for a minute, place on platter and serve warm.

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